Breaking News: HHS Releases Documents on Proposed Marijuana Rescheduling

In a significant development, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) has unveiled a trove of documents pertaining to its recommendation to reclassify marijuana to Schedule III under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), more than three months after the news initially surfaced.

The released materials include correspondence from HHS officials to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram, providing insights into the agency's meticulous review of cannabis's acknowledged medical value. The revelations come after an obligatory eight-factor analysis under the CSA.

However, the transparency is marred by heavy redaction on most pages, with some withheld entirely. The documents, available online since last Thursday, were made public by attorneys Shane Pennington and Matt Zorn, coauthors of the blog On Drugs. Zorn had previously initiated a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain these records.

“We haven't had a chance to wade through it all,” the attorneys stated. “But are putting it up here now and will follow up as soon as we've studied everything more deeply.”

In response to the FOIA request, HHS conducted a review of 252 pages of records, releasing only two pages in their entirety. Another 236 were partially redacted, while 14 pages were completely withheld. All released documents can be found at the end of this article.

The documents broadly outline new scientific information that has surfaced in recent years, subsequent to a previous denial of a rescheduling petition. HHS suggests that this emerging data might now necessitate the reconsideration of marijuana's scheduling.

Most subsequent pages of the document, unfortunately, remain undisclosed. Stay tuned for further updates as our team delves deeper into this unfolding story.

This story was first published by Marijuana Moment.